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Conrad Murray must decide whether to testify

November 1, 2011 | 8:16
am

Michael Jackson's doctor has yet to decide whether he will testify at his involuntary-manslaughter trial.

But if Dr. Conrad Murray does testify, he might say that the pop star killed himself with a syringe of leftover drugs while Murray was on the phone in a bedroom foyer, according to trial testimony Monday.

The scenario emerged during the cross-examination of a defense medical expert who said his testimony was informed by "two extended conversations" with Murray.

The witness, Dr. Paul White, an expert in the surgical anesthetic that killed Jackson, was warned repeatedly not to disclose any information from the meetings, initially by a prosecutor and then by an exasperated judge who threatened contempt of court charges.

But White's answers — many later stricken from the official transcript — and his theory on Jackson's death suggested what Murray told him: The doctor filled a syringe with 50 milligrams of the anesthetic propofol and additional lidocaine, injected half the mixture into Jackson's veins and set the syringe aside.

Even as his attorneys announced they would likely wrap up their case Tuesday, Murray told Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor he had yet to make a final decision on whether he would testify, saying that "depends on how the case progresses."

Murray has pleaded not guilty and faces four years in prison and the loss of his medical licenses if convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's death.